Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) Stock Price

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) had its target price boosted by Morgan Stanley from $76.00 to $78.00 in a report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on LRCX. Citigroup dropped their price target on Lam Research from $99.00 to $89.30 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Lam Research in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on shares of Lam Research from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 29th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Lam Research in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lam Research currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.34.

Lam Research Price Performance

NASDAQ:LRCX opened at $75.21 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $86.25. Lam Research has a 1-year low of $68.87 and a 1-year high of $113.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.77 billion, a PE ratio of 24.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.46.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The semiconductor company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.05. Lam Research had a net margin of 26.02% and a return on equity of 50.60%. The company had revenue of $4.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $6.85 EPS. Lam Research’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Lam Research will post 3.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.22%. Lam Research’s payout ratio is 29.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Christina Correia sold 647 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $817.51, for a total transaction of $528,928.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,267 shares in the company, valued at $3,488,315.17. This represents a 13.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new position in Lam Research in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. RFP Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Lam Research by 52.2% during the second quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC now owns 35 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Lam Research during the second quarter valued at $40,000. Country Trust Bank acquired a new position in shares of Lam Research during the second quarter worth $43,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Lam Research in the second quarter valued at $45,000. 84.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lam Research Company Profile

Lam Research Corporation designs, manufactures, markets, refurbishes, and services semiconductor processing equipment used in the fabrication of integrated circuits. The company offers ALTUS systems to deposit conformal films for tungsten metallization applications; SABRE electrochemical deposition products for copper interconnect transition that offers copper damascene manufacturing; SOLA ultraviolet thermal processing products for film treatments; and VECTOR plasma-enhanced CVD ALD products.